Cast

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Film description

Marina Abramović is as close as one gets to superstardom in performance art. The daughter of Yugoslav partisans, Abramović has lived in New York for the past 20 years and has been subjecting herself to physical and psychological extremes in the name of art for twice that long. She has been described as fearless, radical and nonconformist – and none of those labels are used in vain, as audiences found out at the 7th NH during screenings of Babette Mangolte’s Seven Easy Pieces by Marina Abramović. Abramović unflinchingly redefines what contemporary art is and what it can become. The tool of her trade is her own body, which she insists on subjecting to various tests of endurance. Performance art was alternative 40 years ago and 20 years ago and it remains alternative today – says Abramović. The film aims to break the barriers between the closed world of art and the public at large. In a tellingly intimate scene, director Matthew Akers captures Abramović in preparation for a solo performance at New York’s MoMA museum – beyond Abramović the artist, is a charming, resilient, joyful woman whose boundaries between life and art escape easy definition.

Information about director

Matthew Akers

Matthew Akers has been producing and shooting feature documentaries and television series for the past 12 years. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present is his first feature-length documentary film as director.